The Red Spades
by LordDeadwing
Summary: When a mission goes wrong, a Stormcaller Warlock ends up in a galaxy on the brink of Civil War. Meanwhile, a certain group of Rebels intercepts intelligence of an object of interest en route to the Imperial Capital. What happens when worlds collide? (Spoilers for Star Wars Rebels, D2, Curse of Osiris, Warmind, Forsaken, and Shadowkeep)
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1: Mission of Fate**

Triumphant music could be heard playing throughout The Last City on Earth, banners of the city militia, hunters, titans, and warlocks could be seen flapping in a firm yet gentle autumn breeze. Today marked 2 years since the end of the Red War and the traveler awakened. As the citizens of the city celebrated with massive parties, Guardians continued their duties to ensure that the city would never fall again.

Swiftly moving through the tower, Guardian Warlock Drake Malachite made his way to the balcony where Commander Zavala spent nearly all of his time since the old war room (along with the first Guardian tower) had been left abandoned due to more urgent repairs throughout the city after the Red War. It made sense to Drake, with a large remnant of the Red Legion camped out at Firebase Hades along with Fallen Raiders throughout both the EDZ and the cosmodrome, repair of defensive infrastructure was more important.

As Drake met with Zavala both could feel the familiar feeling of tension between them. Last year, the Hunter Vanguard Cayde-6 and Drake had both reported to the Prison of elders in the Reef to help quell a prison riot. At first, it was business as usual until Cayde was cornered near the bottom level of the prison and ambushed by a lesser known faction of enemies known as the Scorned. Despite fighting valiantly, Cayde's ghost was destroyed and Cayde died his final death at the hands of Uldren Sov, former prince of the Awoken. Zavala decided to allow Uldren free reign of the Reef while the rest of the Guardians continue along with business as usual. Drake refused, went to war against the Scorned, and eventually slayed Uldren. Drakes actions did save the city from multiple threats in progress to Guardians and militia alike, but Zavala never really got along with him anymore since he disobeyed orders to stay behind.

"Guardian" Zavala greeted with a frown

"Zavala" Drake scowled back but bit his tongue from insulting the Titan Vanguard, say what you will about their bitter working relationship, but at least they were still capable of working together with an admittedly small degree of respect.

"We've received an alert from Rasputin on Mars" Zavala sighed "apparently the egg of an Ahamkara survived all efforts to destroy it. And now it's hurtling through space towards an anomaly."

"An anomaly of what" Drake asked with a raised eyebrow while running his hands through the metallic silver hair atop his head. Drake was a human that looked to be around twenty years of age, he wore a Navy Blue warlock robe with armored boots and gauntlets.

"If I knew, I would tell you" Zavala replied dryly, he was a tall, muscular Awoken who was bald wearing a suit of armor.

"Regardless" Drake's ghost, Snyder spoke up appearing next to Drake's head in the Ophiuchus Shell they had found during a strike against the Undying Mind in the Black Garden just a few months ago. "This is-"

"Snyder, a snack please" Drake whispered

"Oh, fine" the ghost sighed materializing a bag of Snyders of Hanover Pretzel Pieces in Drake's hand. The ghost was named Snyder because during his travels across the ruins of Earth, he was somehow able to locate an old facility where the pretzels were made and packaged and downloaded schematics and ingredient lists for the pretzels, a perk that his partner was all too happy to take advantage of.

"Oh sweet, cheddar cheese flavor" Drake chuckled as he began to snack

"As I was saying" Snyder rolled his eye in exasperation "This is something that can't be ignored, a wild Ahamkara would be dangerous enough but one that hatches and is raised by someone with an agenda would be even worse, we need to move before that egg gets away from us."

"Agreed" Drake mumbled through a mouthful of pretzel pieces

"You have your mission" Zavala curtly nodded before breaking off eye contact and walking back to the edge of the balcony.

About half an hour later, Drake and Snyder strode into the Tower Hangar ready to depart on their mission. Seeing the duo moving, a blonde woman wearing a black tank top, cargo pants, black gloves, with a red bandana tied and piloting goggles around her neck approached them. Her name was Amanda Holliday and she was the chief shipwright for the Guardians.

"Hey Drake" she greeted in a southern accent "The _Queen of Hearts _is all good to go, best of luck"

"Thanks" Drake and Snyder both said as they boarded the ship Drake inherited from Cayde and flew into space.

Flying past the moon, Venus, and Mars using the warp drive Drake approached the anomaly.

"Any sign of the egg Snyder?" Drake asked, sipping some Diet Coke from a can using a straw.

"No, but there are neutrino particles all around us."

"Taken?" Drake asked concerned

"I don't think so, the patterns are different"

"Do you think Rasputin made a mistake with his sensors? I mean the egg isn't anywhere around here" Drake sighed

"It's possible, his hardware is hundreds of years old and there's no telling how much it's atrophied since the Collapse" Snyder mused as an alarm on the console began to beep "Drake!" Ghost exclaimed as he looked over the system "The neutrinos are acting up were being pulled into the anomaly itself."

"Put all power into maneuvering and impulse thrusters" Drake ordered, crumpling the coke can and tossing it behind his head

"I'm trying" Snyder snapped "nothing's working, I can't stop it" as the ghost stopped speaking there was a flash of bright white light and they had vanished.

Drake woke up with a pounding headache after the undesired teleportation, from the mission clock he could tell that several hours had passed since the incident.

"Snyder" Drake moaned out as he took some Advil for his headache "Where are we?"

"I don't know Drake" Snyder sighed "the stars don't match any of the charts for the solar system, I can't reach the City, the Vanguard, Eris, or even the Reef on any frequency, and to make matters worse were running on fumes, we need fuel fast or we'll be adrift."

"I'm open to ideas Snyder, we're not dead yet so let's work on solving this problem before freaking out."

"Well while I was scanning our area I found out that there is a planet nearby that can support life with a city and spaceport kind of like the Cosmodrome used to be. Maybe we can land and refuel there." Snyder suggested

"That's a good start, can we make it?" Drake asked

"It'll be close, but we might be able to make it work"

"Let's go then" Drake nodded and so the ship began to move again. After flying for about an hour the engines were beginning to sputter out when they finally reached the planet and landed in an empty hangar. "I'm not complaining Snyder, but letting us land without so much as a message from whoever is in charge here doesn't inspire confidence in their competence."

"This seems to be a relatively underdeveloped planet, perhaps the leaders here are distracted with other matters or they really are incompetent." Snyder predicted

"Whatever" Drake sighed "Let's go get some fuel." Drake put his helemt on and armed himself incase of a fight. The _Young Wolf's Howl_ longsword slung across his back with the sigil of the Iron Banner gleaming in Solar Light, the _Riskrunner _submachine gun holstered to his left thigh with Arc light coursing through the barrel and magazines, and finally the _Ace of Spades_ hand cannon, formerly used by Cayde-6 and customized with the Last Hand ornament making the gun dark grey with a red spade where the white one originally was. Lowering the boarding ramp and exiting the surprisingly spacious jumpship, Drake exited while Snyder hid himself in Drake's head so that they wouldn't draw any more unnecessary attention than Drake already was, or thought he would. As it turns out the port was full of Bounty hunters and soldiers so most people didn't even spare him a passing glance. Covertly scanning one of the terminals, Snyder found out all of the relevant information on this planet and began to brief Drake telepathically.

"_This planet is called Lothal, we are in a region of this galaxy called the Outer Rim and it is under the control of a force known as the Galactic Empire, they were founded around twenty years ago and rule over much of the galaxy with an iron fist. Theres a lot of blood on their hands, between genocide, invasion, slavery, extortion, and racism they're like this galaxies version of the Red Legion. Also, I think I found that Ahamkara egg."_

"_Where?"_ Drake thought back

"_An Imperial transport found it and are in the process of transporting it to a research facility on a world called Coruscant for study and experimentation."_

"_Wow, those fools are asking to get themselves killed. Seriously, if our enemies knew about that egg, well, stuff like Riven and the corruption of the Dreaming City happens. How about we take back that egg?"_

"_I have a good ambush point for that ship, but first we should probably do what we actually came here for."_

"_Oh right" _Drake sighed before searching for a merchant he could buy fuel from


	2. Chapter 2

Guardians may have the ability to come back to life after death, but they still have very mortal issues to deal with, such as being very upset. Apparently his glimmer forged replicas of Credits didn't stand up to scrutiny, so he had to run away from local authorities while firing the _Ace of Spades_ and killing two Imperial Stormtroopers in the process. So not only was he a fugitive but he had no way off Lothal without fuel.

"_I think I have an idea" _Snyder suggested from inside Drake's head as they hid inside an abandoned house

"_Shoot"_ Drake nodded ready to have some good news

"_Our first attempt to forge Credits didn't work because we don't have access to the financial data and minting protocols to make our forgeries accurate."_

"_What are you suggesting?"_

"_If we bust into the the main government building I could hack into their secure mainframe and get what we need, the only problem is that if this is going to work, we need to make sure that communications are jammed so they can't request back-up, disable cameras so they can't trace intrusion back to us, and leave false intrusion trails so that they have no idea what we accessed"_

"_So basically just a milk run for us?"_ Drake chuckled recalling similar jobs they would pull against the Red Legion as well as Fallen houses back in the EDZ and Old Russia.

"_Pretty much, if you can intercept an Imperial officer and steal their datapad, I can use it to locate a comms relay that we can sabotage."_ Drake nodded and changed into some old clothing that he found in the house so that he would blend in with the locals while he searched. Strolling down the main market place and pretending to browse what was for sale, Drake waited and watched for nearly an hour before he spotted an Imperial officer that was certainly inexperienced given the fact that he was young and drunk in the middle of broad daylight in the middle of a crowded area. Drake facepalmed in annoyance, his first impression of a leader among the rank and file was that of a buffoon, not a good start for them, at least it would be easier to steal that datapad.

Snyder figured out Drake's idea and materialized a 50 year old bottle of whiskey allowing the warlock to chug it down. Enough to make a Guardian appear drunk, while leaving him sober enough to do his job. Stumbling and chuckling under his breath, Drake patted the officer on his back.

"Hey Vinny, I got here quick" Drake slurred out as the officer turned to him

"Who are you?" the officer asked rubbing his eyes

"Come on Vinny, I'm your friend" Drake spat out the first name he could think of "Clovis Bray, you know the electrician"

"_Ana is going to kill you if she ever finds out about this"_ Snyder chuckled

"Bray" the officer mused

"Yeah, you called me and said you were having trouble with your datapad and the usual solution of turning it off and on again wasn't working." Drake said

"I did ask around base about tech support, apparently my datapad isn't considered a high enough priority to have been looked at today."

"Which is why you called me Vinny, my good man"

"Yeah, my engineer friend" the officer chuckled along "You always did have those pet names for me"

"_What?" _Snyder thought in a shock

"_I can't believe he's actually buying it, I thought I'd have to knock him out and grab the datapad"_ Drake thought back

"Yeah" Drake chuckled "I'll get this back to you tomorrow, good as new"

"Alright, thanks for the help" the officer handed it over and walked away.

"_Snyder"_ Drake thought as he held the datapad in his hand

"_He must've been thinking about another co-workers problem, as far as I can tell this datapad is fine, give me a minute and I'll find the comm relay"_ Snyder replied in exasperation, leave it to a drunk man and a semi-drunk guardian to pull off the most idiotic and asinine stunt he had seen in a long time. Seriously, there are so many ways that could've gone wrong.

The comm relay turned out to be located on the outskirts of Lothals capital city, changing back into his gear and grabbing his weapons, Drake left the city through the sewer system and used his sparrow, a model from the black armory, to drive to the comm relays location. Once he was a quarter of a mile away, Drake noticed that there was a small number of troops guarding the station. Pulling out the _Ace of Spades_, Drake began to do what he did best.

Meanwhile in another part of Lothal's capital city, another operation against the Empire was in progress. The crew of the _Ghost_ were promised intelligence on an Imperial project about to begin, but their mole had been caught hacking into the Imperial mainframe and was arrested on site. So now they were waiting near the road out of the city to ambush the Imperial transport carrying their mole.

"So, what intel is this guy supposed to have?" Ezra Bridger asked

"Not sure" Kanan Jarrus, Ezra's friend and mentor replied "All Fulcrum told us was that there was information regarding an Imperial project in the hands of the mole that we need"

"_Spectre-5 to Spectre-1"_ Sabine communicated through the comlinks "_Spectre-4 and I are in position"_

"Good work you two" Kanaan replied "Prison transfer begins in one hour, go comms silent immediately and keep your eyes peeled."

Back at the comm relay, all of the guards were dead, Snyder was hacking into the communications system and surveillance feeds, and Drake was munching on a bag of Jalapeno Pretzel Pieces.

"How's it going" Drake mumbled through a mouthful

"Just about finished, I'm trying to make sure only Imperial communications are down so that places like the traffic towers at the starport can do their job without getting innocents killed" Snyder replied

"Good thinking" Drake nodded as he finished off the pretzel bites and threw his bag down

"Are you really going to litter?"

"It's not like they can trace it back to us and I don't see a trashcan anywhere" Drake pointed out

"Fair enough" After another couple of minutes Snyder warped back into Drake's head "Comms and cameras will drop in half an hour, that gives you time to get into position since the virus will only last about twenty minutes before the system purges to correct itself"

"I'll only need ten" Drake scoffed as he put his helmet back on and exited the facility.

Back with the Rebels, an hour had passed since they set up their ambush and anytime now the convoy would be coming through. Remaining at high alert, the crew maintained constant vigilance standing still until the sounds of a repulsorlift could be heard and moments later, the convoy came into view. There were two speeder bikes in front escorting a transport with the mole and a scout walker taking up the rear. As planned, Sabine tossed a thermal detonator onto the walker causing it's legs to explode and the pod to fall and the turret to impale the turret on the transport while Zeb and Kanaan hijacked the speeders and Ezra boarded the speeder and grabbed the mole who had been knocked unconscious by the impact of the walker crashing into the top of the transport. Making their escape, the rebels snuck their way back into the Ghost not even thinking about how odd it was that no Imperial reinforcements had arrived like they usually would've.

As the communications and surveillance system went down, Drake strode into the government building wearing some stolen Stormtrooper armor, well not really stolen, while Snyder was hacking, he actually planted a false identification of him as a Stormtrooper so for all intents and purposes he was allowed to go right on in, the Imperials wouldn't catch on until the twenty minutes was up so it was all good. Snyder guided him through the halls as Imperials ran left and right trying to figure out what was going on and it took everything he had not to laugh.

"_It gets good in a minute" _Snyder chuckled

"_How could it be better or simpler than this?"_ Drake asked before his question was answered through the all too familiar tune of Rick Astley's _Never gonna give you up_ playing over the intercom "_You rick-rolled them? Really?"_

"_The more confusion we cause, the faster we'll be in and out with what we need, besides planting viruses and programs that made this show necessary will keep them from finding out about our true goal. Speaking of which, I want you to spray paint something on a wall when you have a chance."_

"_A peace sign?"_ Drake chuckled as he shook his head as an Imperial officer ran past him to the turbolift down the hall

"_I thought a Red Spade would be more appropriate"_

"_Sure why not" _Drake shrugged as he continued through the frenzied halls nearing the financial records office

"_You know with the time that you'll probably have to fight your way out of here?" _Snyder asked

"_You say that like it will be hard"_

"_Don't kill any civilian personnel"_

"_Who do I look like, Oryx?" _Drake sighed "_Since when have I been about hurting civvies?"_

"_Just making sure you know there are civvies here"_ with that, the two of them fell silent as they entered the office and Snyder got to work on accessing the systems. Over the next couple of minutes; Drake sprayed the Red Spade on the Bathroom door, Snydeer got what they needed and materialized Drake's weapons back onto his person, and Drake Drank a can of Diet Coke before the system was back up and they knew it was time to go.

"Showtime Snyder" Drake chuckled putting the Stormtrooper helmet back on and strolling into the hallway. As soon as a pair of troopers came running at him, realising he was a fraud, Drake used the _Ace of Spades _to shoot them. Alarms began blaring and as he entered the next hallway he encountered more Stormtroopers and an Officer armed with a blaster pistol

"Surrender now, traitor" the officer ordered as he and the Stormtroopers raised their weapons

"How can I betray what I wasn't apart of/" Drake asked as he shot the officer and used an Arcbolt Grenade to take down the Stormtrooper. Replacing the _Ace of Spades_ for the _Young Wolf's Howl_, Drake began running and slashing at Stormtroopers, a few of them shouted out the word "Jedi" which confused him but he kept going, advanced speed, reflexes, and strength keeping him safe from harm as he busted out of the Government building and blinked into a nearby building where Snyder transported his weapons and stolen armor away while Snyder changed into civilian clothing to blend in as he strode towards the spaceport, satisfied with the mission as Imperial reinforcements were running to the Government Building in a vain attempt to capture him, while he paid for fuel and took off in the _Queen of Hearts_.

The rebels, entirely unaware of what had happened, stood inside the _Ghost_ as the mole they had rescued woke up.

"Where am I?" the mole groaned

"You're safe friend" Hera spoke to him

"You're with Phoenix Squadron" the mole realised "I have vital in-"

"Just rest" Kanaan said 'This can w-"

"It can't wait, Jedi!" the mole exclaimed "The Empire is transporting an unknown object to Coruscant for research, an object with an energy signature that is also unidentified. If the Empire finds out what this is and weaponizes it, we'll all be in trouble."

"Do you have the coordinates?" Hera asked as the crew left the two to begin preparing for the mission they knew was coming.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter: 3**

The _Queen of Hearts_ and the _Ghost _sped through space towards their destinations, unaware that this galaxy would never be the same after today. Golden age jump-drives are much quicker than hyperspace drives, but the Golden Age of humanity on Earth had long since been lost and as impressive as city technology had come, it couldn't beat the hyperspace drive on the _Ghost_. This was the reason why they arrived first to the coordinates. As they exited hyperspace, they found the Imperial light cruiser carrying the object of interest.

"Wait" Ezra said "if this was a high level objective why would the Empire only have a light cruiser transporting it?"

"Well this item, whatever it is, isn't exactly public knowledge. The Empire is probably trying to keep this a secret, still something isn't right." Sabine sighed

"Yeah" Kanaan squinted at the ship "Why aren't they moving and why haven't they contacted us yet?"

"True" Zeb nodded "usually they're telling us to either leave, identify ourselves, or both by now."

"We've come this far, might as well investigate" Hera said as she moved towards the cruiser's nearest airlock. "Kanaan, you and Sabine scout the ship and report back with anything. Ezra, I want you and Zeb ready to move in and support them if something goes wrong."

"You mean when" Zeb grumbled as the four of them left the bridge to follow their instructions.

Sabine and Kanaan stepped out of the airlock expecting to find stormtroopers about to ambush them and found an empty hallway. If they didn't know better from their intelligence, they would say that the ship was derelict, artificial gravity and life support were still functioning but everything else was basically dead.

"I don't like this" Sabine whispered

"I feel it too" Kanaan nodded "something is wrong here, I can't place it but it's wrong." as the two continued scouting they came across an anomaly that stunned both of them. It looked as though a puddle of black liquid with glittering lights was covering the walls and a small sphere of the same material was floating next to them.

"What the hell?" Sabine asked quietly

"It feels like a plague in liquid form" Kanaan shuddered

"_Spectre-1 to Spectre-2, what's your status?"_ Hera asked over comms

"We're not sure yet" Kanaan responded "There is something seriously wrong aboard this cruiser."

"_You have ten minutes, if you haven't found the objective by then we're leaving"_

"Copy, that" Kanaan agreed, closing off communications.

Meanwhile, the _Queen of Hearts_ had finally entered the system and was making its way over to the Imperial cruiser. As they were nearing Snyder was getting nervous.

"Drake, I'm picking up neutrino particles on that ship." Snyder said

"Oh great" the warlock sighed with a bag of pretzel rods on his lap and a Diet Coke can being tossed aside as he finished drinking it. "Does that mean we're going to galaxy hop again?"

"No, this time it is the Taken"

"Oh hell!" Drake yelled "If they get that egg, it'll be Riven all over again"

"Then what are you waiting for, Guardian, fly faster!" with that the duo sped towards the cruiser in the hopes of getting the egg before it was too late.

Commander Pazak cursed once again as he continued running for his life, he was Special Forces, one of the Imperials that had retrieved the object of interest, yet now his black armor was burned with energy weapon marks, his team had been killed, and he was the only Imperial alive on the ship. He turned a corner only to come face to face with a team of the invaders (Taken Psions). The Commander rolled backwards and fired off several blaster bolts from his rifle, one of the enemies was downed while the other he aimed for simply divided into two and avoided the bolts all together in progress. Growling in frustration, the Commander took cover in the hallway he had just come out from as a volley of energy bolts came his way. Priming a thermal detonator, Commander Pazak entered the room while spraying blaster bolts from his rifle. He threw the detonator to the far side of the room where several of the attackers were while he used a vibroblade to kill the remaining attackers at the same time. Unbeknownst to him, the Ascendant Hive Goddess who was directing the Taken saw his skills and was impressed with him. Using the power that Oryx once held, Savathuun the witch-queen of the Hive, stretched forth her will and directly attacked the Imperial specialist pitting her will against his. Commander Pazak cried out in pain as the deepest most penetrating cold pierced his body, The cold became worse with every passing second and as the Commander screamed and tried in vain to fight against what was happening to him he could feel his ideals, memories, even his very soul be slowly dimmed as an oil lamp running out of fuel. In the next moment he knew nothing, was nothing, and felt nothing. He was forever in Limbo until his master commanded him otherwise, he had been Taken.

Hearing the screams just a moment before, Kanaan and Sabine rushed to the source and had the misfortune of being witnesses of the Imperial Commander being Taken. They had no way of knowing how much danger they had walked into. Savathuun eyed the two newcomers through the corruption running along the walls and blanketing the floor. She felt a faint presence of the Sky coming from the male and could feel nothing out of place on the female. Wanting to test the male humans Sky strength, she began to plan an ambush for the two rebels.

"What just happened?" Sabine asked in a hushed and frightened tone

"I don't know, I've never seen anything like this before. Even so, we need to leave, there is no sense in entering a fight we know nothing about when it's obvious that this object of interest, whatever it is, won't reach Coruscant either way." Kanaan replied Sabine agreed without a moments hesitation, she may be Mandalorian, but continuing onwards wasn't a struggle, it was suicide.

"Hera this is Sabine" the girl spoke over the comlink "Were on our way back, there is something seriously wrong here" The message was met with silence worrying the Jedi and Mandalorian pair even more

"Spectre 2 to Spectre-1, come in!" Kanaan commanded, no response

"Ezra, Zeb, hell even Chopper for all I care, someone respond" Sabine called out on the comlink. With continued silence, Kanaan and Sabine made a dash back the way they had come. They had nearly made it back to the _Ghost_ when they saw an unidentified lifeform wearing what appeared to be tattered grey robes with three fingers on each hand and multiple sets of eyes similar to what an insect would have. Kanaan sensed a massive amount of dark energy coming from it and as he began focusing the force to defend himself and Sabine a term was whispered into his head that described the anomaly perfectly.

_Herald of Savathuun_, the name was unfamiliar to Kanaan but he could tell from the palpable dread in the air that this Savathuun had no good intent whatsoever, the same malice that the Herald portrayed. Shrieking like a psychopath, a massive pulse of dark energy burst from the herald and multiple runic sigils were immediately forged in green flame, from these sigils several dozen Hive Thrall were birthed instantly and rushed at the two. Sabine began using her blasters to fire at the assailants immediately while Kanaan ignited his lightsaber and began to fight back as well. Meanwhile the Herald watched on and waited for Savathuun's command. Unaware of the fact that soon, a risen warrior of the Sky would come along before long.

Docking onto the ship, Drake entered with the _Ace of Spades_ drawn only to realize it was too warm and bright for it to be infested with Taken and possibly Hive as well. Hearing a series of beeps, Drake turned around and found himself being held at gun (blaster) point of Ezra, Zeb, and Hera

"Who are you and what are you doing on my ship?" Hera asked with a suspicious glance

"_Great job, Drake"_ Snyder began telepathically "_the one time I let you fly and land as fast as possible and you end up boarding the wrong freakin' ship. I'm gonna milk this for all that it's worth."_

"This is all a misunderstanding" Drake began "I was trying to land on that other ship so that I could grab something I misplaced"

"Likely story" Zeb scoffed

"For once my roommate and I agree" Ezra jumped in "Why should we trust a word you say?"

"Because you were the ones stupid enough to dock with an infested ship in the first place" Drake deadpanned

"Weren't you just trying to do the same thing?" Hera shot back

"Ok, good point, counterpoint, I'm specifically trained to deal with the entities that have seized control of that ship." Drake replied

"Counter-counterpoint" Zeb said "You could be an Imperial trying to lure us into a false sense of security, how do we know you aren't lying about this infected bit?"

"Ok, I'm just gonna go out on a limb and assume this isn't your first time breaking into a cruiser." Drake sighed "Does any of what has happened since you attached to that ship seem abnormal to you? Have you heard anything back from the people you sent aboard?"

"How did you know we have more people than us?" Ezra asked

"Oh yeah, I mean why wouldn't you wait an hour before boarding a cruiser after docking for the sake of playing a card game and eating, whatever the hell that stuff is?" Drake snarked gesturing to the table Hera, Zeb, and Ezra had been eating lunch and playing Sabacc while waiting for word from Sabine and Kanaan.

"In our defense" Zeb chuckled "It was only twenty minutes"

"Do you really think that makes it better?" Drake raised an eyebrow

"So" Hera spoke up to change the subject "what exactly is wrong with that ship, and what danger are our friends in?"

"Good question" Drake nodded while holstering the _Ace of Spades_ "Unfortunately we don't have time for me to explain why I don't have time to explain. You can choose to believe me or not, but you better believe this. If we don't get your people off that ship, they will either die or face worse, and if I don't get to that object of interest and secure it the entire galaxy: Imperial, rebel, whatever will be in Jeopardy."

Meanwhile, Kanaan and Sabine were fighting for their lives as more thralls ran at them while several acolytes and a knight equipped with a boomer came against them. Sabine cursed as she saw the knight aim it's weapon at Kanaan. These monstrosities had forced her hand, and she used the only wrist mounted missile in her possession to destroy the Knight before focusing her blaster fire on the thralls as Kanaan began deflecting energy blasts back at the acolytes as they were firing on them. All the while, Savathuun watched through the eyes of her Herald in amusement at the futility of their struggle. Sooner or later they would tire and be overwhelmed, the female would die in agony while the male would either become Taken or die as well. He wasn't particularly powerful, but he was strong enough to prove an asset that, with conditioning, may even be able to destroy one of those accursed Guardians. Savathuun sent an order to her Herald and the Herald obeyed drawing on the powers of the Deep to bring forth multiple Taken; a dozen Psions, two Captains, six Goblins, a Minotaur, and a Centurion.

"You've gotta be kidding me!" Sabine yelled in exasperation at the sight of the new enemies as she and Kanaan withdrew and took shelter in an adjoining room as the Hive/Taken forces began entering the doorway intent on obeying their goddess of death and destruction.

Rushing through the cruiser to find Sabine and Kanaan, Drake along with Hera and Zeb were all alert with weapons drawn while Ezra and Chopper were with the _Ghost_ ensuring it would be good to take off at a moments notice (with the _Queen of Hearts _still attached of course). Entering the next hallway, they saw fallen Imperial officers, engineers, and stormtroopers.

"Guess that answers what happened to the crew" Zeb sighed

"Surprising no one" Drake shrugged as Hera shifted her eyesdown the next hallway and spotted a Hive Wizard carrying an egg radiating with chaotic power surrounded by thrall.

"Drake" Snyder said, materialising and startling Hera and Zeb in the process. "They have the egg" Drake turned down the hallway and began firing the _Ace of Spades_ at the Hive as Snyder vanished back inside of Drake's head. The Wizard and the egg vanished while the thralls that weren't killed with Drake's first shots rushed the Guardian as he simply used an Arcbolt grenade to kill them.

"Well that sucks" Drake sighed turning to face Hera and Zeb "Good news and bad news, the good news is, if they were focused on the egg, we still have a chance to save your friends, the bad news is the galaxy is in serious trouble. The egg falling into Imperial hands was bad enough, but having it fall into Hive hands however is the worst case scenario. This is the Dreaming City all over again." The warlock shook his head as shrieks and blaster fire could be heard elsewhere

"Kanaan!" Hera shouted running after them while the Guardian and Lasat followed her.

Hearing the shots of a hand cannon caused Savathuun to turn her gaze from the fight and towards the source. She growled upon sensing the presence of a Guardian, the Guardian that had destroyed her brother Oryx, and nephew Crota. She was enraged, this Guardian had already ruined so much, she would not allow him to ruin her chances of acquiring the one identified as Kanaan as well. She ordered her Herald to kill the Guardian while sending in another dozen Hive Thralls to keep Kanaan and Sabine busy. As the Herald teleported to Drake he drew the _Young Wolves Howl_, and let it blaze in Solar light while wielding the _Ace of Spades_ in his other hand. Hera and Zeb were stunned at the sight of the flaming sword causing Drake to nod down the hallway.

"Go save your friends, this is my fight" Drake commanded, hearing this tone for the first time Hera and Zeb wisely concluded that there was no room for argument and left as the Herald of Savathuun and Drake began their battle. Summoning multiple Thrall, the Herald began firing ethereal energy at Drake while he slashed through the charging minions and rolled out of the way of the blasts rising up and firing multiple shots from Ace at the Herald who dodged most of them only to be hit by the last two shots that went off. Yelling out the Herald sent a much larger pulse of energy downwards causing the floor beneath her and the Guardian to shatter and fall apart. Drake landed on his feet inside what appeared to be the engine room while the Herald and two other Hive Wizards descended and moved towards him. "Round two" Drake said with a grin as they began the fight anew.

Zeb and Hera reached the flank of the attacking Taken, Zeb using his electrostaff began hitting the Captains and Minotaur while Hera fired at the Goblins with her blaster while from inside of the room Sabine shot down the remaining Goblins and Psions with Kanaan slashing down the rest of the thralls before beginning a game of cat and mouse with the Centurion. With Hera's help, Zeb took down the two Captains fairly quick and as he contended with the Minotaur she began firing at the Centurion with Sabine joining that fight as well.

Drake switched over to Riskrunner and poured a massive amount of Arc light out against one of the wizards killing it before maneuvering out of the way of a poisonous cloud and switched back to the _Young Wolves Howl_ rolling forwards and blinking upwards while thrusting the sword downwards into the other Wizard setting it ablaze internally and killing it as the fiend emitted a near deafening shriek of agony. Switching back to the _Ace of Spades_ Drake began dodging energy blasts and firing more shots at the Herald and more of the room around them became trashed with machinery sparking and the engines shielding beginning to fail. As the Herald neared it's death it began recklessly attacking the Guardian who weathered much of the attack with a healing rift while rolling to the side and leaping upwards as his Super was ready to be used. Bringing the palms of his hands together and unleashing a mighty blast of concentrated Arclight straight into the Herald sending it flying backwards with a screech as it's back hit the shield, The Herald died at the same time as the shield was destroyed and the last bit of the energy hit the engine directly.

"_Attention engine core is breached, destruction of the ship is imminent, evacuate immediately"_ an authoritarian voice echoed across the intercoms of the Imperial cruiser.

"Great job, Drake" Snyder appeared "You may have lost the egg, but you still killed the Herald and destroyed an Imperial cruiser, A for effort but F for-"

"Snyder" Drake interrupted "Do you think you can hold off on giving me this crap until after we've gotten ourselves and those other guys off the ship that's about to explode?"

"Fine" The ghost relented as he went back into Drake's head as the two of them rushed back to the higher floor. They found the others as they finished dealing with the Minotaur and Centurion.

"Hey guys" Drake called out "The Heralds' dead and the ship is about to explode, we've gotta get the hell outta here!" They all nodded and followed him back to the airlock where the _Ghost_ was docked.

"Who's he?" Sabine asked

"He's the guy who told us you were all in trouble and helped us save you." Hera answered

"We can talk about this once were all safe" Kanaan sighed

"Agreed" Zeb nodded as they continued running. Once they got aboard the _Ghost_ Chopper disengaged the airlock and flew off to a safe distance as the cruiser exploded.

"You made it!" Ezra exclaimed cheerfully, as they all sat to catch their breath until they heard a crunching sound and turned to the Guardian who had gotten a bag of Cheddar Cheese Pretzel bites and began snacking, taking this moment to relax awaiting the questions that would inevitably come his way.

**I got a computer that works better with Internet connectivity and ****there is**** a pandemic keeping everyone at home most of the time so I should have more time to make posts but all I can promise is that I'll post whenever I'm able to do so. Hope this was worth the wait**


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